Michael Schumacher has now been in a coma since December 29th – 46 days ago. The process of “waking him up” has been underway for two weeks; this is done by means of reducing the chemical sedation, which was keeping him in a medically induced coma, to control the swelling in his brain following his severe head injury. Schumacher suffered the injury when skiing in the French alps and is still in Grenoble Hospital.

In a statement released today by Schumacher’s manager, Sabine Kehm, the family are continuing to carefully guard his condition and there is no mention of the pneumonia which has been reported in the German media and which is common in cases such as this with a patient immobile for a long time.

“Michael’s family would like to again express their sincere thanks for the continuous sympathy coming from all over the world. The good wishes they receive help the family and, we are convinced they also help Michael, who still is in a waking up process.

“As often in such situation no day is like the next. The family is thankful for one’s understanding that they would not wish to disclose medical details in order to protect Michael’s privacy. As assured from the beginning we will continue to communicate any decisive new information on Michael’s health state. We are aware that the wake up phase can take a long time.

“The family continues to strongly believe in Michael’s recovery and place all their trust in the doctors’, nurses’ and nursing auxiliaries’ team. The important thing is not the speed of the recovery but that Michael’s heal process progresses in a continuous and controlled way.”

Schumacher’s wife is with him and very much part of the process of stimulating him back to consciousness, while FIA president and close friend Jean Todt has also spent extensive time at his former driver’s side.

Everyone in F1 continues to pray for a positive outcome for the seven times world champion.

It just shows how fragile life is. It seems only a miracle could bring the old Shu back. Nevertheless he has already had an amazing life, in many ways better than the majority of others on earth. Good luck!

When a persone is no used to failure, like all in michaels household, it takes longer to accept it.
Michael is not coming back, at least the way the fans and family remember him.
The sooner they accept it, the less painfull it will be for all of them.

So you’re saying everyone has a set quantity of luck available at his disposal?

No argument that Schumi, should he pull through, will be changed by this event. But if he comes back to 60 or 70%, that’s enough for him to see his kids grow up.

As for your point of coming back the way we remember him, he was never going to. It wasn’t possible for him to come back even on December 28th. Time stands still for no one.
But don’t tell me you wouldn’t be moved if he threw the checker at the German Grand Prix. Every Schumi fan would sign up in support of that deal if Schumi could come back to at least that level of ability.

As a side note to what I said below about our one sided relationships with these F1 “stars”, imagine if Schumi comes back and more less in a year or two recovers from this but loses his memory – which was a possibility I’ve seen a doctor discuss in I think a BBC site post. Imagine Schumi has to re-learn about his pre-accident life and regain the knowledge and memories of what he’s done from Bernie’s archive? Imagine being in a coma, losing your memories, and having to re-learn you are the most acomplished F1 driver on the plant. How surreal would that be?

Seebe, that happened to another world champion in 1986 – Jerry Garcia, the most expressive lead guitarist in rock music, the leader of the Grateful Dead, spent five days in diabetic coma and needed to be told he was a guitarist and relearn his skills over the next few months. He was at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of physical fitness, but it does go to show how oddly the brain and its memories are related to each other.

Steve, I just checked Jerry Garcia’s wiki. Looks to me like perhaps history of heavy “medication” contributed here a bit.
Greatful Dead – need to listen to some of their music. One of those bands who’s work I’ve yet to experience.

I once had a coach who, after a motorcycle accident and time spent in coma, had to relearn everything: walking, basic motor skills, language, his whole memory and life story. It has taken him years, and in many ways, he became a completely different person afterwards. It’s hard to describe, but people who don’t know his background must think like they are facing a child in an adult’s body. However, in other ways which he himself wouldn’t know about, you can recognize that he is still the same. And, the best part, as far as I can tell, he is now enjoying his new life.

If Michael could get to that state, it would be amazing – not really a “recovery”, because so little of the previous life remains, more like a second chance.

You believe that they should just gave up on him because it’s the easy way to go?

His family will handle this in the best way they can which will be a damn sight harder for them than you or I, so if they want to keep hoping for a recovery until there is absolutely no hope left then I wish them the very best.

tell them that face to face and you’ll realize what a stupid thing that is to say at this time regardless if it’s right.
it’s the doctors responsibility to give them that news and if they have, they don’t need it to be repeated by, with respect, a nobody.

I dont have to tell them face to face. In fact if i would talk to them i would give them support.
And whats funny, its that some of the fans talk like if they were a member of the famili or something, just because they saw him on tv winning some races, and when someone tells the truth, call him idiot, like he was attaking his own comatose father.
I just said what i think is going to happen to a driver i have seen for many years, that i have no relationship with at all. Without insulting you. I am just saying what i consider its the truth, maybe not what you want to hear.

This is a really negative post. Why dont we all continue to hope for the best- a full recovery which is exactly what his family are hoping for and they are much closer to him and his medical advisors than we are.. Sure we have to accept he may never be the same Michael again – but there is still a strong possibility that over time ( maybe weeks or months even years that he will.. I have known 2 people make full recovery from serious head injuries but the process took a few months for one and over 7 years for the other. Only time will tell and we can only offer support to him snd his family in each stage of this process.. Lets hope it happens sooner rather than later.

Speaking as someone who’s father spent 10 days in a coma in the 1970′s, I have to disagree with your negativity.

The brain is an amazing organ, and we are far from being able to understand all of its complexities. Even with the extended coma period, there is still hope for Michael’s recovery. With a little luck, he may still be back up and living a full life after this.

In my father’s case, his head injury was the result of a motorcycle accident and a resulting impact with a brick wall. He made a full recovery, and is now a mentally agile 77 year old retiree.

The helmet my father was wearing was not of the same quality as modern motorcycle head protection, and it shattered on impact. It did just enough to keep him alive, though.

I’d be curious to know how the level of protection of my father’s lid compared with the ski helmet that Michael was wearing. From what I’ve read, the helmet broke, which is not something I’d expect to happen with a modern woven composite motorcycle helmet.

My understanding is that the top ski helmets are only now starting to approach a reasonable level of protection, and compliance to the relevant regulations are sketchy, at best. If you’re going skiing, or taking part in any similar action sport, research that helmet closely before buying. Make sure it will give you real protection, not just a fashion accessory.

There are three international standards for Ski helmets – ASTM F2040, CEN 1077, Snell RS-98. The Canadians don’t think any of these standards are tough enough, as they’re pushing their own standard, Z263.1. I haven’t found any helmets which claim to meet this standard yet.

A few years ago, I was talking with a couple of neighbours. They were shocked when I told them how much my Arai full-face helmet cost. I replied “If you’ve got a ten dollar head, get a ten dollar helmet”.

I thought they medically put coma patients in a controlled state of pneumonia with brain injuries like this in order to keep the body temperature of the patient low. So as to stop as much oxygen going to the brain as possible. This keeps brain activity to a minimum which would aid with reducing the swelling. Just sounds like the Germans have misinterpreted this information for scare mongering purposes. There was me thinking some of our press was disgusting. Just let the bloke recover without reporting all this nonsense. Complete lack of respect to the family this.

They cool the body to hyperthermic state to stop swelling not give them pneumonia. Pneumonia is a lung infection. Also brain activity does not affect swelling otherwise every bodies brain would constantly be swollen.
Exit on a quote…..
“Just sounds like the Germans have misinterpreted this information for scare mongering purposes. There was me thinking some of our press was disgusting. Just let the bloke recover without reporting all this nonsense. Complete lack of respect to the family this”

For sure considering the tremendous joy Schumi provided the fans over the years, our good wishes for his recovery is the least we can do because it’s the fans that are forever grateful for his good work.

Yes, it’s been a long time since the accident and thankfully at least he has begun to gradually come out of the coma.

The encouraging fact is that the family believes in Schumi’s recovery which is a good sign more so after his lucky charm was discovered on the slopes.

As for Jean Todt, it’s always nice to read nice stories such as these where good mates stick by you in the good times and the bad.

Anyway keep fighting Schumi, we miss you champ, can’t wait to see you give the fans your famous thumbs up.

I have not always been a fan, falling in and out of love with the villan of F1. I wish all the best for him and hope he makes a full recovery, the time seems irrelevant if the process brings him back to what he should be, a legend!

I am fully supportive of the family, their privacy and the fact that we have no rights of any sort to Schumi.

Yet we’re human, we’re concerned about an icon of our sport. Nearly everything Khem has said has not been truthful. From the “Schumi is not coming back from retirement” to how serious the accident was and I think still now. For this reason, is there any doubt as to why third party reports gain ground? They have proven to be accurate more often than not. Even now this pneumonia story is not clear, and only leaves us with more concern in our minds and hearts.

And this Pneumonia story makes sense. He’s been there for nearly 2 months in a static state. It’s a hospital – which is where such infections can be picked up. They are surely using equipment on him which is touched, removed, etc. which poses risks.

Even if updates and truth about Schumi is not key to our lives nor ensures improvement in Schumi’s condition, it comes back to the fact that there are millions of Schumi fans who are thinking of him and hoping for progress. Don’t make us a priority by any means, but at the same time don’t forget that in absence of truth and real updates speculation will be done by media.

Than again what the heck do I know? It’s not my brother, father, husband there in a 46th day of a coma.

I fully appreciate the family’s request for privacy, particularly at the hospital, but the less information they give out about his condition, the more the media are going to speculate, which in turn will upset the family.
The family do therefore have the ability to control the media, should they wish.

Surely if there were any good signs of improvement, you would announce it wouldn’t you.
We can only go by what we read in the official statements, which isn’t a lot, but it doesn’t look good in terms of a full recovery.

Yes and no. You may, but you may not want expectations and optimism to get ahead of reality. Especially with so many unknowns.

I do agree that no news appears to be bad news in this case. Because let’s be honest, his state is hardly positive at this point, even if there is no pneumonia. Which is why letting some details out is hardly an issue. But when Schumi recovers I think he’d much rather his privacy wad preserved. I just thought about that actually. They know Schumi best, and even we know this is what he would want, right? Perhaps that’s how we need to look at it.

Nice point of view. He has always had high walls between his racing and his personal life and we should respect that.

It’s a strange one: as fans we’re drawn into a sense of a sort of vicarious “friendship” with the famous person without ever interacting with them. But on the other side of the fame, complete strangers are nosing in when you’re most vulnerable.

It really isn’t our business, and I see the information from his manager on his state as a courtesy to his fans. We ought to be patient for official statements that hopefully aren’t forced out by media pressure, and at the same time not drive up traffic to tabloid sites that speculate.

Your point about fans is one I’ve experienced quite a few times as I’ve gotten older and saw or met a famous person here or there.

Many years ago when Schumi was in red, I was at this sushi joint at Indianapolis that turned out to be F1 central that night. I was eating 3 tables over from Schumi, next to Frentzen, Haug just over in the corner, that BMW Dr. dude, F1 faces any which way you looked.

But obviously we kept looking at Schumi and the topic came up of how not natural and single directional our relationships are with these people. We have seen countless hours of their lives and then have not seen 1 second of ours. It is because we’ve invested so much time watching them work and achieve cool things that cause us to have interest, genuine concern and care when something like this happens. That’s why many fans keep Schumi on their mind, almost as if a good friend is hurt. It’s really weird, because it’s so self serving to us and of no benefit to Schumi or his family at this point. Yet as I said, it’s likely a genuine human emotion for every one of Schumi’s fans. Consequence of this one directional relationship made possible by TV.

Each and every morning when I wake up, after taking care of my baby boy, first thing I do is I go on Google to find out what’s the news on Micheal Schumacher ..

Very sad and stressfull , I can’t even imagine how is own children are dealing with this : ((

To quote Damon Hill : “It’s definitely a dark cloud hanging over Formula One at the moment because he is such a large part of the sport and a lot of people know him very well and have immense respect for him. He is the best of the best.”

To all Schumacher fans , if interested , you can visit :
EverdaySchumi.com …

Each and everyday since the accident , there is posted a picture of a certain event on Schumi’s carreer .. There’s a lot you can learn on him …There’s a little story in which I never heard before , is that in 1992 , Team Sauber announces their entry for the 1993 season and that Michael Schumacher will be their lead driver .. When the story broke , Benetton canceled their practice session and immediately called Schumacher into their offices for an explanation …. After the scolding that Schumacher received , as we know , he never drove for Peter Sauber’s F1 team ….

I don’t post very often anymore and I’ve deliberately avoided this subject for a number of reasons, not least because of the number of drivers that suffered on track during my youth (God bless Jackie Stewart, et al), which seems to make Schumacher’s post-career predicament all the more horrible. I’ll never forget witnessing Siffert’s fiery accident at Brands Hatch in ’71 for example.

So, it’s way beyond time that, for whatever it’s worth, I wish Michael and his family the very best for the most comprehensive recovery possible. Michael, despite the occasional flaws in driving etiquette, is one of the all time F1 greats and, I firmly believe, essentially a good man with some great core values.

The first time I saw Michael was on the Schumacher stand at the Aus GP in 99. Ever since then I followed him to many races around the world, watched every race, read every article. In my eyes you were bigger than life. I wish you the best my friend.

whilst not wishing to criticise others sentiments i need to actually question what exactly is meant by people when they post in public that shumacher is in ‘our prayers.? do people still close their eyes and attempt to summon up special metaphysical treatment from some mystical deity in order to intervene in the outcome of a serious injury to an individual person who is presumably being attended to by the best medical practitioners available?

as i said, i don’t wish to criticise other peoples sentiments’. i simply don’t see the point in declaring that ‘they’ are ‘praying’ by posting on a public forum? that as well as questioning a belief in an archaic form of mysticism. to my way of thinking,cynically i suppose, that it is some form of literal ‘selfie’.

as for your statement re sending ‘positive energy’ i would welcome some further enlightenment as to this phenomenon from a scientific POV.

i happen to have lived for the last 14 years on the fringe of our country’s biggest alternative lifestyle fraternity. snake oil is a common property there. in my experience ‘positive energy’ resides alongside as a saleable item to the milleaux.

KC, I want to add something to your questioning of positive energy and needing some enlightenment from a scientific POV.
I am not religious despite being raised a Roman Catholic, but that’s my choice.
I believe there is energy in everything in the universe but I have no understanding of quantum physics.
I would rather be positive in my self than negative for obvious reasons.

But when it comes to science, it has been proven for centuries that science is only correct for a brief period in time because new discoveries provide new understanding.
If you doubt me, we now live on a spherical planet, we won’t die if we go faster than 30mph and we can fly in aircraft and thats just the simple stuff!

Yup, the same “mystical deity” that created the universe we live in. Please tell me you are wise enough to know that matter (whether a tiny pre-bang spec, or everything in it’s “created” glory) HAD to come from somewhere.

I agree – I hope people don’t just say the word’s, but do pray to God for comfort (& even better, healing both physical and emotional) for Michael and his family.

Don’t want to start a religion debate, but your bash could not be left alone (nor is this thread really the place for it).

my post was self explanatory, i thought. the reason why i asked the question was that many other posters introduced the ‘theistic’ debate by qualifying their post with comments relating to ‘prayers’. i simply tried to put the religious theory to the test, vis-a-vis my query.

i certainly don’t wish ill on shumacher as another human being and at the end of the day that is what shumacher is, just another human being. that said however i feel that there should be some perspective. as a dyed in the wool cynic i question the outpourings of ‘conspicuous compassion’ when events such as this occur.

only last week i revisited some of shumacher’s on track digressions, his attempt to drive barrichello into the wall for instance. barrichello came within millimetres of possible death and destruction and i asked myself, is this the same guy who everyone is ‘praying ‘for? if i drove like that on a public road i would finish up being incarcerated with good reason

we all are entitled to our opinions in a free society but i do sometimes question this reliance on the invocation of mysticism in the 21st century!

Im taking hope of brawns comment about “no negativess” and massa’s encouring words coupled that with this statement that his family believe in a recovery.

But as a realist its very hard to deal with.it certainly doesnt look good… Cheered him ever since i came to follow f1 13/14 years ago. Now 23 and i only have one poster on my room and thats of michael winning his 7th championship in spa.

Whatever the outcome may be i will always remember him as that guy on my poster…

He had his black moments in his career but so did senna but more importantly i believe both men where although tainted, good guys with a good heart and in the end of the day that really matters..

I wish Michael a complete recovery. My thoughts are with his family. He kept us entertained on and off since 1991. We should give give him and his family something back. My best wishes to the Schumacher family.

Sometimes I don’t understand industry’s prorities, they put men on the moon 45 years ago but still can’t come up with a way to clear saliva from a person’s throat in intensive care — allowing 1/3 to 1/2 of patients on respirators to get pneumonia?

IMO reading between the lines he probably has it, but let’s hope not, and if he does have it, he’ll probably set an all-time record for beating it.

Exactly. And if you think about it, instead of spending zillions on weapons that could wipe the entire planet in seconds, we should have spent more of our resources on technology that could save people’s lives. This is one of the moments that reminds me of that.

It’s to be expected. They clearly want to very carefully bring him out of this in a controlled way to avoid any potential damage. They are the experts and know what they are doing to promote the best possible outcome. One can only wish him and family the best as we wait for news of him opening his eyes, and becoming relatively lucid. I suspect that moment and the time after will be quite scary for him as he re-learns of his misfortune. It will all take time to achieve a reasonable level of recovery.

I do not care what anyone says or what the statistics say. I say where there is life there is hope. I hope Michael makes a full recovery whether likely or not. We do not know how we got here, or really understand how life started. So who are we to say what will happen.
Kenneth and Alex if there turns out to be an entity thats responsible for life I hope that entity has a sense of humour when considering you guys.
More importantly good luck Michael.

I am disgusted with the press who continue to dig deeper into this poor guy’s fight for life. All his family want is to be there by his side and guide him from this dark place he is in. The papers are making claims that are pure speculation. They are doing this so that the hospital or PR will come out and correct them. They are forcing news out of people who are busy enough trying to ensure his survival. As a fan i am constantly scanning the web for the news of his waking,when you hear of his death,brain damage,muscle wastage it makes your heart sink,however..how must his family feel?.we forget that our stars are human,they have faults and flaws and we all crave for news,But we must all stop and think,give them space,give them time and support when needed. The news will come when its ready dont force it.
My best to michael, he entertained us,he inspired us,he made us support Damon

You’re disgusted with the press for continuing to dig deeper into this poor guys fight for life, yet you are constantly scanning the web for news about his fight for life?
No wonder modern media and news reporting is in the state it’s in.

There is a difference with waiting for news and forceing a comment. To report the truth seems to be beyond most rags and internet reports. I can see your confusion with the post but how else do you hear the news “he wakes”, my point is this,please let the family have their privacy, let the fans know when its appropriate.

Whilst everyone hopes that he will pull through, the facts of severe brain trauma cannot be simply hoped away. From Gary’s analysis (and it’s excellent to say the least) of the Michael’s surgeon’s comments, he has lesions in the middle of his brain which is about as bad as it gets

There are some comments on this board which makes me question humanity. For those of us who picked up F1 in the early 90s after the demise of Senna, retirement of Mansell and Prost, Michael Schumacher was the reason who drew us back to F1 and made us talk about the sport rather than be apathetic towards its affairs.

A lot of us grew up watching him race, his numerous wins, his struggles and victories at the Scuderia,his controversies and his towering achievements. It is natural to feel “connected” towards a person who has been such an integral part of our passion and interest.

James missed out reporting that his wife spends hours every day talking to Michael and hoping he wakes up. His close friend and colleague Ross Brawn and Jean Todt have made numerous visits to the hospital, and have also spent hours “talking” to Michael trying to wake him up ( all reported by BBC). Then there are those 71 heartwarming messages from Ferrari,each from a different person. Right from the CEO to the guy at the factory had a personal story to narrate.

Looks like those who knew him personally, he was more than just another quick driver. The man was and will forever be a legend. And I am sure he will emerge victorious from his greatest challenge yet.

For sure he is more than just a quick driver. The ruthlessly driven, perennially focused and work-addicted exterior most often belied the otherwise very private, slightly introverted, very loyal and committed human being who knew what his priorities were – prove to yourself that you can do something and find and share comfort, warmth and pleasure with loved ones and close acquaintances. The rest didn’t matter for him to address or fix. He did some of that in his comeback, though.

Nobody gets 7 WDC’s for just being quick. He wasn’t the quickest either. His success lies in him being able to inspire others in sharing a dream and fulfilling it as your good friend. He’s immensely talented, a great professional and a good human being with uncompromising values.

This combination is what is inspiring about him. The odd indiscretions simply don’t matter, because humans (unlike machines) are allowed to have some margins for error. And, the only reason his indiscretions are brought into question sometimes is because he is a legend – a word bequeathed from mythological tales of heroes and villains that we humans always think about, whether consciously or subconsciously. The real, non-mythical world has plenty shades of gray and flaws.

The fact that Michael has received so much support from around the world simply renders those many shades and some flaws completely irrelevant. As David Coulthard said, it takes something like this for you to know what you really think and feel about someone.

Fight it out, Michael. Get well! If not for us fans, do it for your family. They deserve it. A big admirer of human ingenuity and your fan from Nepal.

your last sentence needs some qualification zombie. what is it that makes you so sure that shumacher will ‘emerge victorious’? even the best qualified medicos that have ventured an opinion say that at this stage it is impossible to forecast what will happen to shumacher.

the most optimistic opinions, as opposed to assurances, say that he will, most likely, be a different person but to what degree is unknown. from there opinions slide from mildly vegetative into the realms of the completely unknown.

There’s nothing wrong in hoping, even if the odds are 99% against someone making it. I can’t imagine playing the realist in front of Schuy’s family right now. They deserve to hope. Let them and the fans be humans for a change. The prognostics, statistics, analytics can bask in glory another day. Schuy’s family want privacy; not speculations, even if they were true.

i don’t think that i mentioned anything remotely related to ‘hope’. nothing the matter with having hope for a desired result. my point was, in case you missed it,that the other poster was expressing a certainty. all i did was inject some possible ‘reality’ into the debate.

i would also attach some credibility to a suggestion that shumacher’s family would be well appraised of the posssible outcomes by the full medical team. yes, they would no doubt be hoping for a good result, that is natural but that would, i presume, be tempered by a clinical analysis.

until such time that there is a regular medical report issued speculation will continue unabated. that is also a natural response.

The medical team has perhaps used a new technique where the lower the body temperature from the usual, which experts claim reduces the swelling in the brain, as the general functioning of the body slows down in a low temp situation.

James it is time to cull this thread. This speculation and the uneducated statements are completely out of order. His privacy, and that of his family is paramount and should be respected completely. Please just delete it all.

why? surely posters are accorded the right to freedom of expression so long as it doesn’t cross the line. michael shumacher has a large ‘public persona’ and as such will draw the attention of huge numbers of people as witnessed across all the media.

are you suggesting that this thread, and comments contained, are an invasion of shumacher’s privacy?

are you suggesting that james pull his article in total, including all the comments? maybe it might just be better for you to ignore the thread entirely. this is a site dedicated to F1 and all it’s many corollaries be they either good, bad or indifferent. so long as it is personally inoffensive then the thread must be allowed to stand on merit.